This week we're replaying our favorite shows about beating the heat. In this episode from September 2020, a discovery that may make the world a little better: a thermoelectric cooler that’s so small, the naked eye can’t see it. Plus: for the International Day of Sign Languages, a celebration of interpreters at heavy metal concerts.

UCLA scientists create world’s smallest ‘refrigerator’ (UCLA)

10 Epic Sign Language Interpreters at Metal Shows (YouTube)

International Day of Sign Languages (United Nations)

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This week we're replaying our favorite shows about beating the heat. In this episode from June 2022, the story of the yakhchāl, a storage building which could keep foods cold all year long. And they were used over 2,000 years ago. Plus: Munfordville, Kentucky has its own Stonehenge.

Yakhchāls, Āb Anbārs, & Wind Catchers — Passive Cooling & Refrigeration Technologies Of Greater Iran (Persia) (Cleantechnica)

Kentucky’s Stonehenge is one man’s rocky wonderland (FOX Lexington)

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This week we're replaying our favorite shows about beating the heat. In this episode from June 2023, a look at the history of air conditioning, in which you’ll find quite a few times where people said, are we sure this is a good idea? Plus: a zoo in Japan holds a lion escape drill with some help from a human inside a lion costume.

The Unexpected History of the Air Conditioner (Smithsonian)

Japanese zoo staff chase furry fake lion in escape drill

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It's National Avocado Day, so we’re going to take a look at one of the most popular ways we use avocado, and how an actual pirate is part of that recipe’s history. Plus: starting tomorrow in California, it's the World Dog Surfing Championships.

We Can Thank A Pirate For Writing Down The Oldest Guacamole Recipe (The Takeout)   

WORLD DOG SURFING CHAMPIONSHIPS 

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Today in 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported on a lawsuit pitting two titans of toothpaste against each other over showing toothpaste on their packages. Plus: starting today in Idaho, it’s the Yellow Pine Harmonica Festival. 

And May the Best Nurdle Win (Wall Street Journal)

YELLOW PINE HARMONICA FESTIVAL

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It's National Lipstick Day. During World War II, lipstick became one way that women in Allied nations could show their true feelings about public enemy number one. Plus: the community of Luverne, Minnesota, has just installed the tallest nutcracker in the world.

Why women in Allied countries wore red lipstick to protest Hitler during WWII (Snopes)

Giant nutcracker, Verne the Patriot, introduced to Luverne (Yahoo! News)

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Today in 1887, the birthday of Marcel Duchamp. He was both an accomplished artist and an artistic provocateur, like the time he released a “new” work of art that was a reproduction of the Mona Lisa, on which he had painted a mustache. Plus: in January 1917, Duchamp and some fellow artists and performers declared the creation of the Free and Independent Republic of Greenwich Village. 

When Marcel Duchamp Drew a Mustache & Goatee on the Mona Lisa (1919) (Open Culture)

When Greenwich Village Artists Partied On Top of the Washington Square Arch (Untapped New York)

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This month in 1959, an expedition set out to clear up some of the confusion around Hannibal’s legendary crossing of the Alps by recreating that journey, complete with an elephant. Plus: authorities in Maryland say they've apprehended a bank robber with a cat-themed MO you don't see very often.

The British Alpine Hannibal Expedition (JohnHoyte.com)

Cat burglar steals kitten, tries to rob bank in Maryland, gets caught instead (NBC News)

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Some obscure video games help shed light on the early days of the industry. But people who study those early days sometimes have to do a lot of digging. Plus: today in 2019, a news report on a guy who left quite a legacy for Iowans trying to go to college.

Press ‘start’ on ’70s arcade history (University of Virginia)

Iowa man used his secret fortune to send 33 strangers to college (CBS News)

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Today in 1945, the Seattle Daily Times newspaper revealed a great wartime hoax: for several years, a key military factory had been cosplaying as a neighborhood! Plus: Hyve is an autonomous off-road rover that hosts a colony of live bees and lets them sort of go on a pollination tour.

Boeing made an entire fake neighborhood to hide its bombers from potential WWII airstrikes (Seattle Times)

nicolas nielsen designs self-driving HYVE beehive to pollinate cities (designboom)

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